Bucs stun Panthers in overtime

Tampa Bay’s Dallas Clark celebrates after catching the winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat the Panthers’ 27-21 on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

John Clark/Halifax Media Group

Published: Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 05:04 PM.

CHARLOTTE (AP) — Theseason is starting to become a blur for the Carolina Panthers as one heartbreaking loss bleeds into another.

But it’s hard to imagine one tougher to swallow than Sunday’s 27-21 overtime defeat to the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which the Panthers surrendered an 11-point lead with six minutes left in regulation.

“It’s kind of been the story of our season,” quarterback Cam Newton said.

No doubt.

Of Carolina’s last six losses, the Panthers (2-8) have led in the fourth quarter in five of them.

“We just have an uncanny ability to lose at the end and this obviously takes the cake,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “So, it’s really disappointing. I think guys played really hard. I think guys fought their way to the end and we just didn’t have some plays go our way.”

Added receiver Brandon LaFell: “This is a game that we felt like we should have won. This is a game we could have won.”

CHARLOTTE (AP) — Theseason is starting to become a blur for the Carolina Panthers as one heartbreaking loss bleeds into another.

But it’s hard to imagine one tougher to swallow than Sunday’s 27-21 overtime defeat to the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which the Panthers surrendered an 11-point lead with six minutes left in regulation.

“It’s kind of been the story of our season,” quarterback Cam Newton said.

No doubt.

Of Carolina’s last six losses, the Panthers (2-8) have led in the fourth quarter in five of them.

“We just have an uncanny ability to lose at the end and this obviously takes the cake,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “So, it’s really disappointing. I think guys played really hard. I think guys fought their way to the end and we just didn’t have some plays go our way.”

Added receiver Brandon LaFell: “This is a game that we felt like we should have won. This is a game we could have won.”

Josh Freeman threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark in overtime to cap the Buccaneers’ comeback win. It was Freeman’s third touchdown pass of the game for the Bucs (6-4), who have won five of their last six to pull into playoff contention.

But rather than celebrating their dramatic win, Clark talked afterward about learning from it.

“We learned a lesson today that we can’t just show up and win a game,” Clark said. “I hope guys will get it. We’re lucky it’s not a loss. I hope we go back and look at the film and say, ‘Hey we didn’t play well.’ Sure, we played well enough to make some plays to win at the end, but to get where we want to go, that’s not good enough football.”

Carolina appeared to have the game in hand when Newton connected on a 29-yard touchdown strike to LaFellto go up 21-10 with six minutes left in regulation.

But after a 40-yard field goal by Connor Barth, the Panthers’ offense couldn’t put the game away and had to punt.

Freeman quickly led the Bucs 80 yards on seven plays in 50 seconds, despite not having any timeouts. Along the way, the Bucs benefited from a personal foul penalty on linebacker Thomas Davis for hitting a defenseless receiver.

Freeman finished the drive with a perfectly thrown 24-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson between three defenders with 12 seconds left. He went back to Jackson for a 2-point conversion on a slant route to send it into overtime.

In overtime, the Bucs won the coin toss and moved quickly down the field with Freeman finding an open Clark on a wheel route along the left sideline for the winner.

“You’ve got to love it when the linebacker swears as you’re heading up field,” Clark said with a laugh.

Freeman said it was a play the Bucs worked on all week and he’s glad that was the call.

“When we got to overtime we stepped into the huddle and everybody was ready to go and we started talking like, ‘Hey, let’s just execute one play at a time and do our jobs and try to get out of this thing with a touchdown,’” Freeman said.

The Bucs came in as one of the hottest teams in the league, having scored an average of 35.6 points per game during the past five games. Freeman had thrown 13 touchdown passes and only one interception in those games.

But after Tampa Bay jumped to a 10-0 lead the Panthers’ defense shut the Buccaneers down for most of the remainder of the three quarters, forcing three turnovers. A 74-yard interception return for a touchdown by Captain Munnerlynand a key fumble by rookie Doug Martin on a fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line loomed large.

Trailing 14-10, the Bucs appeared ready to take the lead after driving 15 plays to the Carolina 1.

But on fourth down, coach Greg Schiano went for the touchdown instead of the field goal and linebacker Davis plowed into Martin, forcing the ball out near the goal line. Fellow linebacker Luke Kuechly, the team’s first-round draft pick, recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

Officials reviewed the play to see if Martin got in, but the call stood.

The Panthers seized the momentum when Newton led the team 80 yards for a score to build a 21-10 lead.

But once again, the Panthers couldn’t finish.

Second-year coach Ron Rivera, whose job security only grew more tenuous after the loss, said the game was all about missed opportunities. Rivera said the loss “is right up there at the top” in terms of toughest ones to swallow.

“This is about as bad as it gets,” he said.

NOTES:Freeman has now thrown 16 touchdown passes in the last six games. ... Panthers WR Steve Smith injured his hand and DE Charles Johnson hurt his head during the game, but both returned. ... Martin had 138 yards rushing for the Bucs. ... Carolina had 97 yards rushing after being held to 10 in the last meeting with the Bucs in the season opener.